Gimbel Chili

My dad has been making the same chili since I can remember, and when I first moved out of my parents house my mom made me a cookbook with all my favorite recipes in it, including the chili recipe:

As you can see, the recipe comes from a cookbook called "The Consumer's Guide Food Processor Cookbook" published in 1976. Since I like my food much more spicy than my parents do, I use this recipe as a jumping-off point for the chili I make. 

Since Matt has a class on Sundays, I usually listen to music LOUDLY like a teenager while I cook. This Sunday the soundtrack was this.

Gimbel Chili

2 medium onions, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 lbs. fresh pork sausage (my dad uses Jimmy Dean's frozen mild. I used fresh spicy andouille and spicy Italian sausages. This means you'll have to remove the sausage from it's casing, which is actually kind of satisfying. 

2 cans (15 oz each) kidney beans, drained

1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

1 cup water

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

*I also added some smoked peppers I found at the Bad Seed Market. They smell so good!

1. Brown the sausage in large skillet or Dutch oven, breaking the sausage into small pieces with the back of a spoon as it browns. 

2. Lift the sausage from the skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside. 

3. Pour off drippings, reserving 3 tsp in the skillet

4. Add the chopped vegetables to the skillet and saute 10 minutes over medium heat. 

5. Add the sausage and remaining ingredients. 

6. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. 

Feel free to add Fritos and cheddar cheese to make Frito Pie. Also goes very well with an IPA.

Happy Sunday!

Meditation: Sweet Anniversary

Today is the first anniversary of Sweet Heartland-- a year ago I was living in Cleveland, waiting for Matt to return from Afghanistan, ensconced in good friends, eating, cooking, music and the small wonders in life that make it worth living.

This time last year, I went to The Cleveland Museum of Art and saw the amazing White Stripes documentary Under the Great White Northern Lights. If you are trying to make anything at all- music, a novel, a cake, a life- this is an inspiring film to watch. It inspired me to begin this blog.

This time last year I had this song in my head on repeat:

I usually have some sort of song obsession on my mind, and this was it at the time. I love the yearning bittersweetness of it- and isn't this time of year a bittersweet season?

The soundtrack to this fall is all about this:

It's been a good year- things are very different now in the very best way. Thanks for reading Sweet Heartland all this time-- a big "cheers!" to another year spent exploring the people and things that make life (in Kansas City and all points beyond) sweet.

Hallo, autumn!

Someone told me that if you feel you want to get something off the ground, just start doing it- don't wait until it's perfect, because perfection doesn't exist. So.


Even though it's been a looong (sigh) time since I've been on an academic year, I still think of fall of a time of new beginnings- a bouquet of pencils, a new Trapper Keeper, crispy jeans. It's a perfect time to start a new project. Here's my project. I wanted to start a blog so that I would be pushed to report on the small things that make life sweet. I'm calling it Sweet Heartland because (at the moment) I live in the midwest. But I also think that any place you feel a connection to is a Heartland.